Astronomy in Israel

Prehistoric astronomical activity is represented by a Stonehengelike megalithic circle and "Observatory" at Rujm-el-Hiri, near Yonathan in the Golan, the Westernmost sector of the historical Bashan plateau [1] dating from the IIIrd Millenium BC. Star worship is mentioned in the Old Testament [2] as beeing common among the Canaanites*, but the Bashan inhabitants who built that Golan megalithic circle antedate the Canaanites. Very little is known about them and the presumably religous role of their edifice. To the IIIth Century BC Israelitis, they appeared as the work of giants (Refa'im, also Anakim, Emim, Zuzim), and this is probably the source of the legends about races of giants that had lived in Eretz-Israel prior to the Israelite conquest - including the characterization "a remnant of the giants" for Og, King of Bashan, in Deuteronomy and Joshua [3]. Indeed, the Rujm-el-Hiri circle is just one among many megalithic remains in the Bashan, probably at the origin in Greece and England (the "Giant's Dance" = Stonehenge).